docs/Archive_Specifications.md

# Archive Specifications

## Scope and Protocol Version

These specifications apply to recordings and drawings created beginning July
13, 2025 unless a metadata row documents a deviation. Two protocol identifiers
now distinguish the canonical workflows:

- `standard-2025-07-13` — the earlier Standard workflow established July 13,
  2025.
- `standard-2026-08-27` — the prospective canonical fragment-sequence workflow
  established August 27, 2026.

Protocol assignment is not a blanket finish-date cutover.
`standard-2026-08-27` applies to the `canonical_fragment` record IDs documented
in the revision-pinned relationship packets. Other Standard rows retain
`standard-2025-07-13`, including historical `RecNN` rows outside those packets.
A `RecNN` filename suffix alone never assigns the prospective protocol.
Use the [generated workflow views](../Workflow_Subsets/README.md) for membership
and the [dataset card](../README.md#select-a-standard-recording-workflow) for
generated counts at the selected repository revision. The
[provenance index](../Standard_Time_Lapses/Provenance/README.md) locates the
supporting packets.

For `standard-2026-08-27`, each canonical MP4 and metadata row represents one
unchanged source recording. Membership requires the protocol value in metadata
and `record_id` membership in a revision-pinned relationship packet; filename
dates and `RecNN` alone are insufficient. Historical MP4s may represent one
recording or may combine multiple recordings, including through InShot. This is
a file-specific possibility, not a claim that every historical file is
compiled. The distinction is illustrated by the prospective
[`2026-08-27` packet](../Standard_Time_Lapses/Provenance/2026-08-27/README.md)
and the separate
[June 18–30 historical relationship](../Standard_Time_Lapses/Provenance/Historical_Relationships/2026-06-18--2026-06-30-fountain-pen-30x40.md).

The identifier records the governing workflow. It does not imply that every
published file has identical encoded dimensions, orientation, codec, audio, or
post-processing history.

## Capture Configuration

The owner-confirmed capture default established under the earlier Standard
workflow, and inherited by the prospective fragment-sequence workflow unless a
row documents a deviation, is:

- Device: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, model `SM-S918U`
- Application: Framelapse 2; observed current version 11.7
- Logical camera: Rear (Main), 1.8x
- Nominal capture interval: 0.2 seconds
- Capture orientation intent: Landscape
- Capture resolution class: 2160p UHD (4K)
- Still-image size: 4000 × 3000

The 0.2-second interval is a protocol-level nominal setting, not a confirmed
measurement for every Standard recording. It does not by itself establish a
calibrated real-time basis for any record. The separate exploratory
[recording-timing sidecar](../Standard_Time_Lapses/Provenance/Recording_Timing/README.md)
documents a narrower empirical calibration for one observable recording
profile.

AE/WB lock, autofocus, and stabilization are owner-reported for certainly the
majority of this period, not confirmed as universal per-record facts. Deviations
must be recorded prospectively and must not be filled retrospectively by guess.

### Capture versus published encoding

Capture orientation and stored pixel orientation are separate properties.
`metadata.csv` fields `width_px`, `height_px`, and `orientation` describe the
published encoded file. Many canonical files are stored as portrait video,
including records that historical evidence identifies as rotations or crops of
landscape sources.

Do not infer a rotation, crop, or transcode solely from dimensions. Such a
transformation should be asserted only when supported by provenance evidence.

An ordinary SHA-256 match establishes byte identity with the specific
comparison file. Direct-device or unchanged-source provenance additionally
requires evidence about that file's origin. File size and container or stream
metadata can corroborate provenance, but cannot independently prove drawing
membership, direct-device origin, or an untouched source. Do not assign a cause
to a smaller file without supporting comparisons.

### Acquisition evidence and canonical representation

Under `standard-2026-08-27`, Framelapse source recordings are retained unchanged
as acquisition evidence and each source file has its own canonical metadata
row. Grouping, file order, retained-sequence completeness, and derivative
coverage remain in a separate noncanonical relationship manifest. Historical
canonical representation may instead use a selected InShot assembly when that
workflow is specifically documented for the file; it must not be presumed for
all historical MP4s. The active indexes retain the original 29 fields plus five
timing-display fields and `work_id`; see the [35-field schema](../SCHEMA.md).
Dynamic browser previews and physical-reference
photographs remain noncanonical access or evidence layers linked through
persistent identity.

Under `standard-2026-08-27`, all `RecNN` members in one prospective grouping
share the documented finish date and finish time of the complete
grouping/physical work. That timestamp is not the individual end time of each
fragment. `RecNN` records chronological position within the group.

A 2160 × 3840 portrait H.264, 30-fps InShot processing profile is documented as
a candidate. It does not become a canonical protocol boundary until one complete
natural drawing passes fragment-order, join, duration, stream, hash, and manifest
verification and receives explicit creator approval. Existing 60-fps canonical
records remain unchanged. The encoded 30-fps value is a playback property, not
the real capture interval.

## Timing and Calibration Status

The current protocol documentation does not provide a complete calibrated time
base for motor-control or physical-trajectory measurement. The nominal
0.2-second setting records the intended protocol; the interval actually used
for an individual recording remains unconfirmed unless separately documented.

At source revision
`b4b58f0ce0effb31ebf7671fbb0bd9c11765db4e`, the exploratory recording-timing
sidecar interprets 22 retained device-filename timestamps as recording starts
and their matching MP4 creation tags as finalization boundaries. Those direct
observations fit a profile-specific elapsed-time model that is applied to 164
additional observable-profile-matched fragments. The model is in-sample, has
no independent holdout, and does not identify its empirical intercept as a
physical capture constant. Its two-second start allowance is an operational
review threshold rather than a proven semantic error bound.

In particular, the following may still be unknown for a recording:

- confirmed per-record frame-capture interval
- real drawing-session duration
- time-lapse acceleration factor
- source-frame timestamps
- removed pauses or edit decisions
- dropped-frame history
- camera model, lens, and mount geometry
- pixel-to-physical coordinate mapping or homography

`encoded_frame_rate` is playback rate only. It must not be treated as original
drawing-time sampling. The timing sidecar uses decoded frame count only inside
its separately documented empirical model; it does not recover source-frame
timestamps, uninterrupted drawing duration, or drawing-active time.

Canonical `duration_seconds` remains encoded playback duration. The timing
model uses separate timestamp-boundary evidence and probed frame counts; it
does not reinterpret encoded duration or `encoded_frame_rate` as wall-clock
time.

## Drawing Surfaces

### 9 × 12 in

- Strathmore 300 Series Bristol
- Smooth surface
- 100 lb (270 g/m²)
- Acid free

### 11 × 14 in

- Strathmore 300 Series Bristol
- Smooth surface
- 100 lb (270 g/m²)
- Acid free

### 14 × 17 in

- Strathmore 500 Series Premium Bristol
- Plate surface / ultra-smooth
- 100% cotton
- Acid free
- 2-ply
- Introduced in the Standard collection on August 19, 2026
- Manufacturer packaging describes the paper as archival quality

### 30 × 40 in

- Strathmore 500 Series Illustration Board
- Heavyweight vellum surface
- 20-ply
- White

The creator confirms that the fifteen June 18–30, 2026 `Rec01`–`Rec15`
indexed video files use this Illustration Board support. Their paths and active
metadata encode `IllustrationBoard`; the correction preserves all media bytes,
stable record IDs, Xet identities, sizes, and technical fields.

Other support sizes and materials may appear when identified in the canonical
filename and metadata. Future 30 × 40 in records must preserve any documented
exception rather than assuming that dimensions alone establish support.

## Drawing Instruments and Ink

### Ballpoint

- Pelikan 337 Giant Ballpoint Refill
- Black and Blue
- Medium, 1.0 mm
- Document-proof ink conforming to ISO 12757-2

Documented acquisition exception: `2026-08-23.1932.BallpointPen.Ink.Paper.14x17.Rec03.mp4`
uses the standard Pelikan black refill until approximately `00:04:59`. Visible
refill handling marks the transition to an unmarked, unknown-brand black refill
for the remainder of the recording; the brand is not inferred.

### Fountain pen

- Pilot Custom 823
- 14-karat gold nibs used in Fine, Medium, and Broad sizes
- Aurora Black fountain pen ink

The nib size used in an individual recording is not consistently documented and
must not be inferred from line appearance alone.

Additional tools and media are recorded at the individual-record level.

## Audio

Audio presence is a stored-file property, not a required part of the acquisition
protocol. `has_audio` records whether an audio stream exists. It does not
describe the stream's contents or establish redistribution rights for music,
speech, notifications, or other incidental sound.

## Exceptions and Evidence

Known departures from the protocol should be documented in the affected
metadata row. A deviation claim should identify its evidence in `notes` and,
where applicable, provenance fields.

When a property is not documented, it must remain unknown rather than being
reconstructed from visual appearance alone.